Author Archives: Ross
Richmond by bike
Views from my first real ride on the Capital Trail—embarrassing, I know. 15 years ago, I used to ride out to this 7-11 way back before the trail existed. Turns out bike infrastructure is real nice!
Ban cars, Part 3
Via Alon Levy: The upshot is that there are two valid strategies to deal with literally hundreds of millions of first-world citizens who stand to lose income, wealth, or social or cultural status from the green transition. The first is to buy them off, or at least buy off those who can be bought off […]
I was explaining Friday the 13th to my 10-year-old and he was like, “What is the murderer’s name? Like, Jeff or something?” And I laughed, because JEFF? Don’t be ridiculous.
Ban cars, part 2
Self-driving cars, SUVs, and the trolley problem. The Detroit Free Press investigation showed that NHTSA knew four years ago that the proliferation of pickups and SUVs was putting pedestrians at risk thanks to heavier vehicle weights, higher bumpers, and compromised visibility. “Pedestrians are 2-3 times more likely to suffer a fatality when struck by an […]
Ban cars
The ultimate goal of the green movement in general and of public transit activism in particular should be to ban cars, or else get as close as possible to banning them. Modes of transportation that are not cars that provide alternative functionality to cars are almost always a good idea in this scheme.
Living our best lives
Garbage can wheels
A couple of years ago my pal Sam talked about fixing the wheel on his garbage can and how that made his life so much nicer. Not that it’s hard to take the garbage out when the wheel on the can is busted, but how much nicer is the chore when the wheel actually rolls […]
Writing about ped safety, and I keep typing “Stamples Kill” instead of “Staples Mill.”
Sam and Ross Like Things, episode 68
This is madness
Who’s on my ballot?
In this morning’s GMRVA, I listed out Tuesday’s primaries for the Richmond-adjacent Senate and House Districts. I’m surprised: Is the only place with primary candidate information really these user-unfriendly PDFs? Am I imagining that a “type in your address and see what’s on your ballot” thing existed somewhere before? This seems like a valuable service […]
Photo Challenge, Week 22: Architecture Stairs
I skipped a bunch of weeks!
Newark
I took a trip to Newark and had a blast. Newark is cool.
Just like Nicholas Quah over at Hot Pod News, I love newsletters. His plan to make a Radiotopia-inspired federation of newsletters is interesting—although you wouldn’t catch me involved in anything that shares ad sale revenue. Membership though? Maybe like Maximum Fun? Here’s Quah’s on how the relationship with his first newsletter partner will work: You […]
This accounting of teaching congressional campaigns about digital security is fun, interesting, and could have been written about extended family members instead of people running for Congress. Maciej Ceglpwski, the Pinboard person, is one of my favorite internet writers. But I never found a way to get people onto 1password in a single training session. […]
Working from parks
Manton Reece is working from each one of his city’s parks, and I think this is a wonderful idea. And, after I get back from Newark, might start mapping out a plan to do the same.
Max and Ross Bike Things
As part of RVA Bike Month, on May 20th, my pal Max and I will lead you in, around, and through all of Richmond’s hottest transportation infrastructure—by bike! Expect entertaining banter about how all that infrastracuture came to be, what the political fights were like, and what’s in store for the future of biking and […]
Complaints against public institutions are always the same
This comment on an article about congestion pricing in NYC exactly mirrors the conversations we’re having in Richmond about schools funding. I’ve gone ahead and replaced “subway” with “schools” and “The MTA” with “RPS”: Yes we need money to fix the schools. But there is no mention of accountability. How will we know that this […]
Photo Challenge, Week 14: Titles
This week’s challenge was to focus on “the story within the image.” I took this picture of the Governor’s Mansion from the Grace Street overlook in Church Hill. If I had to title it, I’d go with something like Center of Controversy. I liked the green space surrounding and isolating the Mansion—and the man who […]